Paola Colombo

For the next five days I am going to write a short description about the artists I invited to All Dolled Up. My talk is in 8 days! Yikes! Good thing chocolate bunnies have hit the shelves.

The Lovely Paola Colombo!

Paola Colombo lives in Verona, Italy.  Everyone calls her Pollaz, which is the name she sells her pillow heads under. 

I was first drawn to her works when I saw these oven mitts.  They are so funny, colorful and cheerful.   I love the little embroidered hairs, they look like they could be monster hands, but they are oven mitts----meant for getting pans of cookies out of the oven.  You just know Paola Colombo has a great sense of humor.

When I researched her further and discovered her pillow heads, I was even more delighted.  They all look like such cool guys, like people you would see at a party.  They are the kind of people that talk about music you never head of and drink really strong espresso.  I love them.  I love how they are all designed so simply, but each one carries a distinct specificity to it as well.   My favorites are the ones that use a surprising patterned fabric for the beards and mustaches. 

Paola has a degree in scenography from the Academy of Art in Verona, but while she was studying she discovered she had other interests.  Her mom taught her how to sew, and she had a friend challenging her to do more with the medium of fibers.  She began making handmade objects and selling them at punk shows.  Afterward she began to push herself more with needle and thread.

In an interview with Paola, which you can read here, she says that she likes to imagine everyone to have an alter fabric ego sewn by her.

I love the image on the bottom right where she has drawn the bodies for her pillow portraits.

spaghetti!#1, a photo by pollaz on Flickr.

She also is doing some very interesting and mysterious things with fabric and clay involving a cute little gentleman named Gustavo!  Check out her flickr set for more.  It looks like he like Spaghetti as much as I do.

Thank you Paola!

Visit Paola's blog here and her Etsy shop here.